Think about this idea from Hank Green: “There’s one person I’m definitely smarter than. That’s me from four years ago. That guy knows everything I know now, but less. He’s lived everything I’ve lived, but less. So why should I feel like I have to stick to what that less smart, less experienced guy thought?”
I loved this perspective. It reminds us that we’re smarter and more experienced than we used to be. And that can help us shake off the idea that we’re stuck being the person we used to be.
It also reminds us that we don’t have to be the same way we’ve always been just because we have always been that way.
We don’t owe it to our 3-year-old self to eat all of the ice cream and Legos we can find. We don’t owe it to the self of 3 years ago to keep doing something because it might look foolish that we changed.
But still, we can also be stuck when we think, “If I could have changed my past, I would have. There must be something invisible holding me back.” This leads us to believe that changing is hard.
So we start looking for a magic solution – a miracle cure, a magic spell, or just something that makes us feel okay to change.
But here’s the twist: the power to change isn’t somewhere out there. It’s in us. You don’t have to stick to your past self. We grow, we learn, and we become better. Understanding this is the first step to making the changes you want to make.
Motivation and confidence come after we do the thing, not before in most cases. Courage gets us on the roller coaster the first time. The confidence that we won’t die gets us back on. Motivation to have fun gets us back on.
